A New Day
by aaryankapur12
Summary: Scorpion is not just a team...it is a family. What happens when an outsider tries to join this family? Will he be accepted? Or will his dreams shatter? This story will contain new ships, and exciting mysteries, and it is set after season 2 episode 10, but Megan lives, and Ray never leaves. Warning: this is unlike any other Scorpion fanfic that you may have ever read. So, enjoy!
1. Pilot

**Hello all, this is my new story, a scorpion fanfic, as was promised in my first story's announcement chapter, so if you haven't checked that out, please check that out, however, this is a standalone story. Hope you enjoy!**

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"I know we have done a lot of scary and terrible things before, but this idea is nuttier than squirrel faeces," Paige said, not sounding reassuring at all.

Walter fixed the last screw in its place, and the whole place exploded with sound waves, as Ray held the old-fashioned stereo on his shoulders, and led the team into the ring, in which Toby would take on his second opponent, in less than a month.

The stereo was blasting Triple H's entrance theme now, and everybody looked repulsed, and turned away from the noise of the decade-old stereo, all while Toby tried to reassure himself that this fight wouldn't go down like the last one had, without any luck. _Well_, he thought to himself, _today is going to be an interesting day_.

"Hey doc, the last time you did this, you ended up with one black eye, which hasn't completely healed yet, as I can see," Happy said, looking at Toby expectantly.

"Oh look, someone's concerned about little Toby's safety," Toby said, making a baby face, "Aww!"

Happy leaned in next to Cabe, and whispered in her ear, "shut him up, or he will lose his hands in half the time taken for his opponent to knock his eye black."

Cabe nodded but didn't think it was appropriate for Toby to hear something like that just before his bout. It was evident from Toby's face that he was losing faith in himself.

Walter took a step closer to Toby, "Look here, champ," Walter said, patting Toby on the back to gain his attention, "by looking at the sheer size of your opponent's muscles, I would make an educated guess that he is on steroids."

"So, how does that matter?" Toby asked Walter, now fully facing him.

"So, what I'm trying to say is that you can knock him out with just one punch, but the force should not be more than 25 newtons," Walter replied, "You will target stomach 9."

"That's smart but I'm nervous and cannot think, so please enlighten me as to where lies this stomach number 9?" Toby said to Walter, throwing him one of his many eccentric looks.

"Can't believe you went to Harvard med school," Walter said, returning the same look back, "Anyway, stomach 9 is on the right side of the Adam's apple, and when you hit with a force, not more than 25 newtons, it will hit the Vagus nerve, which will trick the brain into believing that the blood pressure is rising, when, in reality, it is not, so the brain commands your body to lower the blood pressure, all the tissues will collapse, and the man would faint."

"That's genius, 197!" Toby replied

"Don't call me that," Walter retorted, "And use it when the time is right. And remember, the shot needs to be disguised. It should look as if you are going to right hook his chin, but you actually right-hook his stomach 9."

"And if, in any way, they see that you have done that, they recognize the place you have hit him, they _will_ disqualify you." Walter continued.

"All right, it's time," Cabe said, gripping Toby's arm and leading him to the ring.

Ray followed Cabe and Toby into the ring.

"Hey, where you going?" Cabe called out to Ray.

"Remember, I'm the cut man," Ray shouted back to Cabe, "I'm the guy who squirts water into Toby's face!"

At least Ray seemed quite happy about it, while Cabe just shook his head slowly, and let the guy enter.

Ray entered the ring through the bottom rope, holding Toby's squirt bottle, and squeezed the bottle, aiming it at Toby's face, covering it with water, leaving Toby discomforted.

"Probably, not now, man," Toby said, " Maybe after I beat his ass off, maybe then?" He looked at Ray, questioningly.

Ray gave a bland _all right_, and raised his hands in total surrender, and stepped out of the ring, with Cabe, as the referee started calling credits.

"Introducing first, weighing in at 190 pounds, the Bantamweight champion, from California, Los Angeles fight club," The referee started introducing Toby's opponent, with a smug look on his face, "the ultimate beast, the king of the kings, Luca!"

"And now, introducing his opponent, the challenger, from Harvard medical school, and behavioral institute," the referee paused, frowning at the paper in his hands, and looked at Toby incredulously, "Really, man?" the referee continued, posing a rhetoric question to Toby.

"Just go on, zebra, like you did last time," Toby replied, glaring at the referee.

"The challenger, from Harvard medical school, and behavioral institute," the referee started again, "with punches harder than decaf, and a personality which could make Floyd Mayweather wet his pants, Dr. Tobias Curtis!" the referee finally finished introducing both fighters.

The bell rung, and the match started.

Toby running around the ring, muttering insults at his opponent, and dodging his every attack. It actually looked like Toby was in control this time.

He was busy admiring himself, when the opponent push-kicked him, and he was jolted out of his thoughts and imaginations, and directed his mind towards the fight.

Round one was over and Toby had landed a few hooks, that pleased him greatly.

Cabe came over to him, and said, "Ok, now find your rhythm, and let's stick to left jab, right uppercut and left hook."

"If you notice closely, you haven't landed a single kick yet," Cabe continued, "Now, irritate him with push-kicks, and when the time is right, follow Walter's advice, now get up and get your ass back in the center!"

The bell signaled the start of the second round, and Toby went full-on attack, throwing jabs here and there, left uppercuts on point, and bothering the opponent with left and right push-kicks, just like Cabe had said, and topped it all off by neatly avoiding the opponent's jabs.

Soon, the five minutes of the round were over, and Toby made his way back to his corner, all while staring his opponent down, and his opponent staring at him back.

When Cabe complimented Toby on his performance, Toby asked Cabe, "why is the other dude, Laco, initiating a staring competition?"

Cabe shook his head and replied, "it's a bloody boxing ring, the stare down represents strength and confidence, so stare him down as hard as you can, and look like a gangster in the process."

"Ok, I can do that," said Toby, as, out of nowhere, a stream of water hit him square on his face. Toby threw an annoyed expression.

"Ray, you really need to improve your timing, pal" Toby faced the culprit, which appeared to be Ray.

The bell signaled the third round, and Toby almost jumped on his opponent, bothering him with constant jabs and uppercuts, while throwing a few neat hooks in between, sticking to the aggression strategy, rather evidently.

Toby decided that the time was right, and aimed a hook at the opponent's face, which Luca managed to block easily. Toby kept on trying, but was unsuccessful.

Toby had a few bruises on his cheeks, given to him by the opponent's jabs, the ones he had managed to not dodge or counter.

The startling bell sounded again and the third round ended, putting Toby on the top of the game, and in winning position, if the result was to be unanimously decided.

"Good job, kid," Cabe said, smiling, "Now right at the start of the next round, take him down with a right hook, right where Walter told you."

The bell signified the start of the last round, and after this round, if no one was KO'ed, or no one tapped or submitted, the result would be decided unanimously, and Toby was sure to win.

Toby ran to his opponent, his right hook ready when suddenly out of the blue, he was struck with a flying twisted kick, and passed out cold on the mat.

The team's shouts from the crowd were very evident, as the referee began counting.

One, two, three, four, five….

"Get up Toby," Walter yelled from the stands.

"Get up, son, " Cabe followed Walter suit.

Eight, nine…

Toby suddenly opened his eyes, and made his way towards the rope. Apparently, his opponent had the same idea. He had barely missed losing his second fight, and scarring his Bantamweight record.

From the corner, Toby yelled to his opponent, "hey blackey, I had a dump, and it looked like you!"

This sent the crowd over the edge, as several shouted, yelling counter-insults to Toby, while others laughed the hell out.

"He did not just say that," Paige said to the team.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but he very much did," cried Sylvester, from behind Paige's seat.

The insult seemed to anger the opponent, exactly what Toby wanted, and the opponent charged at him like a bull, and Toby made some quick calculations in his head and started the count down.

Five, four, three, two…

The opponent was coming closer by the second.

One….

And Toby delivered the right hook at the right side of the opponent's Adam's apple.

In all the rush, and the high adrenalin levels in the crowd, no one, not even the referee noticed that Toby had hit his opponent on the side of his neck.

The perfectly disguised shot knocked the daylights out of Luca, and he crumpled up and fell on the floor, after exactly 4 seconds.

It was over.

Toby had done it.

The bell signified Toby's win and the referee raised his hand, and Toby yelled to his unconscious opponent, "Did you go to Harvard med school, huh blackey?"

The team ran towards Toby and Paige and Cabe even hugged him, which discomforted him, and Ray shot a stream of water at Toby's face.

Toby was fuming…

"RAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY," Toby yelled, and chased Ray all the way to the garage.

At the Garage

Happy approached Toby, her face showing no emotion at all. Her face was always like that. Devoid of emotion. Almost all of the geniuses' faces were like that, maybe except Sylvester's.

"I didn't know you had it in you, doc," Happy started the conversation, "but for what its worth, I think you did great."

"First time in a long time, you have complemented me," Toby replied, "someone's happy."

"See what I did there?" Toby continued, looking pleased with himself.

"You just ruined it," Happy retorted and walked off.

"Tough luck with Happy?" Paige said, grabbing Toby's attention.

"Always is," Toby replied, "she just can't see the awesomeness in front of her. Many people don't have that, but Happy is lucky that, that awesomeness is always following her around."

"It's ok," Paige tried to reassure Toby, "eventually, all will play out fine."

Toby looked at her and noticed her for the first time that day. She looked pretty in that cropped blouse she was wearing, with her regular black trousers.

"Someone's looking hot today," Toby said, complementing Paige, "has Walter complemented you today?"

"Nope," she replied, "he hasn't gotten off from working on that rocket till now."

"It's ok," Toby reassured Paige in the same way that she did to him, "eventually, all will play out fine."

"No, Toby," Paige said, starting a debate, "you didn't just use my line back on me!"

"Oh, Paige, I just did," Toby said, furthering the argument, "what are you gonna do about it?"

A full-fledged argument had broken out between Toby and Paige, and they only stopped arguing because they heard the garage door open, and they saw a pale, whitish-brown man step forward.

"Hello, can I help you," Paige said, approaching the man.

"Hi, is this the famous group, Scorpion's, headquarters?" the man asked.

"Hey pal, replace group with family," Toby said, to which Paige smiled, "and to answer your question, yes you are in the right place."

"So, how can we help you?" Paige asked again.

"I'm looking to join Scorpion," the man replied.

"Oh, boy!" Toby said, genuinely worried for the guy.

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**This is chapter 1 guys, all your comments and review are much appreciated. If you would like something to be changed or modified, pm me, or write down below in the review section! Hope you all enjoyed!**


	2. Induction Training

**Hey all, this is the second chapter of my story, and has weird pairings, but nonetheless, I hope you like it.**

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"Hey 197, someone is here to see you," Toby shouted, so that Walter could hear him from above the staircase.

"Coming," Walter shouted back from above.

Within a few seconds, Walter came down the stairs and looked at the new man, quizzically.

"Yes, can I help you?" Walter said, looking at the man.

"Yes, hi, I'm Nathaniel, people call me Nat," the man introduced himself, "and I'm here to join Scorpion."

"OK, one thing to understand Nat, is that Scorpion is close knitted family," Walter began, "and I would like to keep it that way."

"I totally understand, Walter, but I would like to state a fact," Nat began.

"Okay, he is just like you guys," Paige whispered to Toby.

"I would like to point out that Toby was a gambler, when you got him out of a tough situation," Nat said, "and I beg of you, Walter, at least just try me."

Paige stepped up to Walter and said, "fair point, so at least hear him out."

Walter crossed his arms and nodded to Paige.

"OK, I'm listening," Walter said to Nat.

"So, since I was finishing my degree, I saw you doing some very daring acts, I saw you rescuing a boy who was stuck between the rocks in the landslide," Nat said, directly addressing Walter now, "I also saw you going in all by yourself to rescue that boy, by endangering your life, so I asked myself, what if I can make the same difference by saving people's life like you do?"

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if someone dies, knowing that I could have helped," Nat continued, "so I beg of you, to please help me in making a difference."

"What you have said is impressive, I admit, but it's more than just making a difference," Walter replied, "what we do also appeals to our conscience sometimes, and our brains are developed enough to handle it, so my question to you is, is your brain developed enough to handle it?"

"I have no idea as to how I can answer that question," Nat said, throwing a quizzical look at Walter, and the rest of the team.

"Just tell me which field you specialize in," said Walter.

"International relations and Criminology," replied Nat.

"None of them is even remotely in the science and the math sector," said Walter, looking disappointed, at Nat.

"Oh, man," Toby whispered to Paige, "he got Walter disappointed. There's no way Walter will accept him now."

"Okay, Nat," Walter said, "Tell me your IQ score."

"I have an IQ of 145," replied Nat.

"Okay, with an IQ that low, how do you think you can help us in any of the missions?" Walter said to Nat, "and also none of your majors are in the science or math sector."

"So, you are telling me that my chances of making a difference in the world is crushed, just because I didn't choose to study a science or math?" Nat asked Walter, temper rising, "That's absurd."

"I'm sorry but that's the norm," Walter said to Nat, "there are only four subjects worth studying, science and math, and math and science."

"Okay Walter, I can do the same things that you all can do, but just with a pen and paper," Nat said, annoyed at Walter, and shrugging.

"As I said, you will not be mentally prepared to risk your life, if need be, and that endangers you and makes you vulnerable," Walter said, his voice rising, "plus I will not have the death of a teammate on my hands."

"Okay look here, Walter," Nat said, rising up from his chair, "I don't care anymore if you don't take me in the team, but hear this."

Nat paused.

"Tell me this - who gets to decide which subject is a science, and which is not? Science doesn't necessarily only mean physics, chemistry and biology. There are many other sciences that we, as humans, are unfamiliar with," Nat said, calmly, maintain his temper, "the truth is Walter, that you are delusional, you don't see what's right in front of you. You know what the real meaning of science is?"

Nat paused and took a deep breath.

"Science is the intellectual or the practical activity that encompasses the systematic study of what is around us, the physical and natural world, through observation and experiment," Nat said, "in international relations, you have to predict, through observation and experiment, how a state will respond to the demands or the barter of all the nature of activity around them. It is no less than a science. Hell, even theatre is a science. It's a science of emotion and activity, which can be studied through observation and experiment."

"I know, and I have been told, that the we are heading towards a major crisis," Nat began again, temper in check, "but judging a man's personality, and predicting whether he is ready to achieve his goals or not, just by the type of subjects he chooses to study, I just didn't know that the crisis would be that bad."

With that, he started towards the door of the garage.

"Damn, I have never heard quite anything like that," Toby whispered again to Paige, "that right there, was an incredible speech, and that had to have shook Walter."

"I have never seen Walter this silent in four years," Paige replied back.

"What we couldn't do all our lives, that man did that just in five minutes," Toby said, shaking his head, with an eccentric expression on his face.

"And what is that?" asked Paige, raising her eyebrows at Toby.

"Shutting Walter up." Toby said, taking a deep breath.

The garage door busted open, and Cabe, with an anonymous, ravishing man stepped inside.

"No time to play around fellas," Cabe shouted at the whole team, "this may be our biggest case yet, so stop what you are doing and gather around."

The team gathered around Cabe and the man, and Nat seemed to stop right in his tracks.

"Who's that prick?" Cabe asked, pointing towards Nat.

"A new joinee," replied Walter.

Cabe raised an eyebrow, and Walter said, "I promise to explain later, let's focus on the task at hand."

"Nat?" the anonymous man seemed to recognize Nat, "is it really you man?"

"Oh yes, where are my manners?" Cabe said, cutting in, "Meet Kush, a RAW agent, and this is a classified mission, in coordination with RAW, India's external intelligence agency, and CIA."

"I didn't even know about RAW." exclaimed Walter, looking glum

"That's because one of our strength includes secrecy," Kush said.

"Is that really you, Nat?" Kush asked.

Nat had not exited the garage yet. He was frozen in place, and almost looked like a statue.

"I'm sorry but how do you know Nat?" Walter asked Kush.

Nate walked back to Walter and the rest of the team.

"I'm former RAW." Nat replied, with his head down.

"One of the best agent, nonetheless." Kush said.

Upon hearing that, Toby's jaw dropped, Paige brought a hand to her mouth, Happy had both her eyebrows raised, and Sylvester was embracing himself.

"Nat," Walter looked straight at him, "why didn't you tell us that you work with an intelligence agency?"

"So let me see if I'm getting all this straight," Toby began, cutting Walter off, now directly addressing Nat, "you finished your honors degree, two honors degrees in fact, and you have worked for an external intelligence agency. Tell me again, how old are you?"

"I'm 22," said Nat, in reply to Toby.

The room echoed with several gasps. Toby for one, was very surprised at this kid. He was only 22 and he had crossed milestones. Sure he had seen Walter do the same stuff at almost the same stage, and Toby himself went to college when he was 14, but nor Walter, neither him had worked for any external intelligence agency during their childhoods. He was almost inspired by the kid.

With that, he had a lesser IQ than Walter, Toby, Sylvester and Happy,so most probably he had an EQ pretty much similar to Paige and Cabe. That greatly surprised Toby, and the rest of the team would also be, rather shook, by this, he was sure.

Cabe coughed intentionally, drawing everyone's attention towards him and Kush.

"So as I was saying, Pakistan was going through a nuclear exchange with China, which was hidden from the UN and the USA, when suddenly, their nukes fell into India, through the Wagah border at Amritsar," Kush said, "If Pakistan does not deactivate those nukes, it could have severe political implications."

"And what would these 'severe' political implications be?" asked Paige.

Nat stepped forward and said, "okay let me help you guys with this."

Nat stepped forward towards the white board, picked up the marker and drew one big circle, and then five smaller circles inside them.

"Has he lost it?" Happy muttered to the team.

"Okay before you interrupt me, I want to tell you guys that this is no joke, and the circles actually represent something. I'll explain after I complete my drawing." Nat said, as if reading everyone's thoughts.

Nat then erased the five circles, and replaced them with five different sized circles.

"Okay, this is the basis of international relations," Nat said to the team, "in international relations, we group a certain territorial area and represent it with a big circle."

"The smaller circles you see inside are countries," Nat continued, "and in this particular chart, there are five different countries. The bigger the size of the circles, the higher equipped with military and financial capital that particular country is."

"The biggest concentric circle represents China, as it has the most capital and military strength of all the countries in the area. India follows close behind, being the second superpower in this territory, the third largest circle represents Pakistan, then Sri Lanka, and the smallest circle represents Bhutan," said Nat, taking a pause.

"But how is all this related to this particular mission?" asked Walter, his expression varying between that of confusion and disappointment.

"Coming to that," Nat replied, "be patient."

"So the circle sizes get bigger and bigger as a country expands its military and financial resources," Nat said, "so the incident that Kush just told you about, the deal between China and Pakistan, let's assume that, that never failed. Now if Pakistan gets those nukes, their military strength boosts, increasing the size of their circle, and China never trades without reason, so it's a pretty good guess that they received financial capital from Pakistan, which again boosts their financial resources and their circle gets bigger too. Quick check, till here everyone with me?"

"My mind is blown," said Toby.

"This is incredible explaining, Nat," said Paige.

"Simple but engaging explanation," Happy replied.

"We are all hooked," said Sylvester.

"Whatever," said Walter, a defeated expression on his face.

"So, the next part is that the countries in that region see their circle expanding, and suspect that it may be a threat, so they also start building their strengths and expanding their circle," Nat continued, "they can increase their circle size by two methods - either increase military and financial capital, or form alliances with other countries in the same international system, as China has done with Pakistan."

"The result of countries constantly expanding the size of the circles will be a total state of anarchy, as all the countries would be expecting war, and preparing for it," Nate continued, "that will result in less immigration and visa approval, and significantly less import and export of goods, except weapons and food. And that's it."

"Couldn't have explained it better myself," said Kush, sounding impressed.

"That's why you will be working closely with RAW and CIA, to get into Pakistan, diffuse those nukes, and get back," Cabe said, "safe and simple."

"What is the catch?" Toby asked, putting on an innocent expression.

"Yes, India has given us a time limit of 24 hours before they impose sanctions against Pakistan in the coming UN Vienna meeting, which Pakistan will not take lightly," said Kush.

"Great. So we got to Pakistan, discover the structure of the nukes, reverse engineer them and let Indian military take care of the rest," Happy simplified, "this might just be our easiest mission yet!"

"Where in Pakistan, may I ask?" Nat asked Kush and Cabe.

"The vibrant city of Lahore," Cabe replied.

"Great, right on the border!" Nat said, sounding frustrated.

"I have a question though," Walter said, directing everyone's attention to him, "why isn't Pakistan diffusing bombs themselves?"

"The Pakistan government have constantly denied working with terrorists, and they are claiming that this is a terrorist group's work." Nat replied.

"They have the balls to do that when they know that the malware on the nukes is from Pakistan?" asked Walter.

Nat just nodded his head, and with this, the team started packing up.

"So I guess, I'll just leave you guys to it, then." Nat said, as goodbye.

"No, we will need you on this mission," Walter said.

"Yesssss!" Nat whispered to himself.

Nat was buzzing with the idea of working with his role models on an actual mission, and if he was lucky, he would even get to know some of the members.

Overall, he loved the group as a whole, but if he had to choose between the team to get to know people, he would choose that beautiful woman who was in a cropped top, or the guy with the silly hat.

Oh this would be fun, he thought to himself, a big smile spreading across his features.

In Lahore, Pakistan

"Look at the room," Toby said, "finally Homeland decides to make our lives a little bit less miserable."

Sylvester goes with his ultraviolet light to the bedrooms to check for any viruses or bacteria. He finds none.

"Even the beds are sterilised," Sylvester said, sounding impressed and jovial, as usual.

"Homeland didn't have a thing to say in this," Cabe said to the team, "this is all RAW."

"I'm impressed, I have to admit!" Walter said.

"Okay if we are going to survive this, we would need all hands on deck," Walter said, "so we need to have people on their 100%, else all this will topple right over our heads."

"I agree with the kid," Cabe said.

"Ok so, here's the action plan," Walter said, "Happy come with me to check out the nukes across the border. Sly and Paige, remain here with Cabe and check the profile of those terrorists."

"Oh, and Nat, you gotta come with Happy and I," Walter said.

With this, the three of them headed out, while the second part of three stayed behind in the hotel.

"Hey what about me?" they heard Toby shout.

None of them looked back, and just continued walking.

At the border

Walter walked up at the border, his tablet in one hand, and eyes glued to the screen. Unconsciously, Nat noticed, that he was getting closer and closer to the border. Just too close.

"Hey, Walter," Nat yelled, "Don't go any further!"

Walter was so absorbed in his research that he didn't hear Nat's warning in time. As soon as he took a step forward, a force field hit him square in the chest and he got blown away (like literally, no pun intended) and landed on the desert area quite hard on his back.

Happy rushed to Walter's side, and asked him if he was okay, and got a weak "yes" in return.

"Nat, why the hell didn't you tell me that there would be a force field near the border," asked Walter, his voice rising, "I could've gotten killed."

"I literally yelled at you to not take a step further, but you were so invested in your tablet, that you didn't hear that," replied Nate, with a very calm voice.

Walter looked at Happy to confirm what Nat said, and when she nodded her head, he knew he was wrong to lose his temper over such a small issue.

"Ok, so we know there's a force field 10 feet before the border," said Walter.

Walter then activated his comms.

"Sly, there's a force field just before the border, which I'm sure can be disabled by hacking into the Pakistani mainframe, and reverse the coding. Can you do it?" Walter asked Sylvester.

"It would take me a day or two to disable their firewall," Sly said, over comms.

"We don't have a day or two. Sly you gotta do something to hack into their mainframe," Walter forced Sylvester.

"I'm doing everything I can," Sly replied, "everytime I hack into the mainframe, they inject my device with a trojan virus. I cannot do it without you."

"But I don't have my laptop with me here," Walter said to Sly, "I know how to do it, but I have to come back for that."

With that he killed his comms, and looked at Happy.

"We need some actionable Intel before we go, because I would be disheartened to think that we came here, riding almost 2 hours, for nothing," Walter said, still looking at Happy, "Can you tell me something about the wires, just by looking at them?"

"Think I can," Happy said to Walter, "The wires are the electromagnetic ones, I would say that they are electrified throughout the day, except when the army comes near and has parades. And the wires look strong, not the kind that would break when a rat chews on it."

"Good, let's go," Walter said, to the two of them. .

At the hotel

Walter, Happy and Nat reached the hotel, just to see that Cabe had gone out on an excursion of his own and…... Tim flirting with Paige.

Walter didn't even know Tim was coming to Pakistan with them. Walter thought he was somewhere in Texas.

This had been going on for the past few weeks, and had been having an emotional toll on Walter even though he didn't say that openly. Though now, he did have a support system, a sort of counter to Tim and Paige's thing. He had started going out with Linda again.

Maybe he was doing it just to compete with Tim, or he wanted Paige to see him and Linda go out and then get jealous, and ask Walter out. Honestly, he didn't know what was going on with him, and why he always hyperventilated when he saw Paige with Tim. Anyhow, he loved Linda deeply and didn't want to change things between them.

He had been going out regularly with Linda, sometimes almost 4 times a week, but this time, she tagged him along with her, and as a result of that, he discovered life like he never, ever had before.

With her, he tried caviar, double beef burger with shack sauce, and she even convinced him to pop a shot, once in a while.

"Earth to Walter," Toby shouted, swinging his arms in front of Walter's face, "are you okay man?"

"Sly, research and come up with a solution to the force field, Nat help Sly, he would need your expertise in Asian geo and topography," Happy build a device that can isolate the frequencies in the force field, so that we can shrivel them up, one by one," Walter dictated commands, "Paige check-in with Ralph, we might need him on comms."

"Toby, a minute?" Walter said, already walking toward the end of the room, so that they could talk in private.

"I wonder what it is now," Toby said, shaking his head side to side, running to catch up with Walter.

"Ok Toby, what I am going to share with you is very personal, and you tell nobody," Walter began, "I mean NOBODY, not even Happy."

Toby suddenly got very excited, and leaned closer.

"Oh, my god, is it raining in a desert?" Toby said, "because 197 O'Brien wants to share his thoughts and feelings with me. I can't believe it."

"Are you finished? Can I speak?" asked Walter.

Toby just nodded his head.

"I have been going out with Linda lately, as you know, but I have conflicted feelings about it," Walter began.

"Not that I don't like her. I love her with all I got, but…" Walter quickly added, which made Toby frown.

"Let me guess, you are having conflicted feelings about going out with Linda, even though you love her, because your conscience is saying that you belong with Paige, and now you are hopelessly confused upon the course of action, am I right?" Toby asked Walter.

"Precise," murmured Walter.

"Okay, welcome to Dr. Curtis' clinic, please have a seat Walter O'Brien, I shall solve all your problems," Toby said, motioning Walter to sit down, and also sitting down himself.

"Okay, Walt, this is very common, many people go through it. In fact, right now, almost 2 million people in the world have doubts about their dates, at this very moment," Toby said, sounding pleased with himself.

"Very comforting," Walter said, giving a death glare to Toby.

"Let us get to the point," Toby said, "how about I ask Paige how things are going on with Tim, and then read her body language, and then I introduce you into the conversation, and then I read her body language again, and then I analyze the results and get back to you by…. Hmm let me see….. By the end of this mission?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Walter and walked off.

"Ok, Sly? What have we gotten?" asked Walter.

"A very important thing, Walt," Sly began, "the force field is actually a very concentrated beam of sound waves, with a ultrasound frequencies."

"Just as I predicted," Walter said, "so we need to isolate each ultrasound frequency, and kill each one of them separately."

"But that can take upto 5 days," said Nate, worried.

"Just trust Happy," said Walter.

"Uh, Walter," Nat called from the corner of the room, "we need you here."

When Walter and Toby reached the corner of the room, they saw that Nat and Cabe had spread a map that looked like the blueprints of the area near the border.

"I just wanted to tell you that Happy's prediction is right, the fence is electrified, and the code to open the border is reset every 3 minutes, no one can hack into the system and open the border, but the worst part is that the electric current is intensified in the night," said Nat.

"Oh that's bad," Walter said, pacing around the room, "that's very bad!"

"We were thinking of escaping to the border in the night," Walter explained to Nat.

"So what's the play now, son?" Cabe asked Walter.

"Actually I may have an idea, but you guys decide the logistics," Nat said.

"Let's hear it, son," Cabe said.

"Okay, if we cannot disarm the nukes from here, what about we cross the border and disarm the nukes from Amritsar, in India?" Nat explained.

By now, all team members had started piling up behind Walter, and apparently, they had heard Nat's idea, and the response was not positive.

"There's a force field that doesn't let us come anywhere near the border," shouted Happy.

"The borders are electrified," screamed Paige.

"And the current worsens in the night," Sly put in.

"And we have no way of cracking the code that would let us cross the border," Toby said.

"And it's already dark, we gotta finish the job by early morning," Cabe joined the party.

"Hold on, that might actually work," said Walter.

Nat looked up at Walter with hope.

"Please explain yourself," Tim said to Walter.

But Walter wasn't listening. He was pacing around the room, making calculations in his head. For the next two minutes, he had shut off his mind towards the environment around him.

He was thinking about the trajectory, the centre of mass, the wind speed, the air pressure, the weather, and the environment around the border. He was imagining it all. If the trajectory was a bit off, the plan wouldn't work.

He activated his comms.

"Ralph, you there on comms?" Walter asked, one hand on his right ear.

"I'm here," Ralph answered back.

"Okay, I want you to look into the environment around the border, and if the trees on the other side would be able to withstand a person's weight. Got that?" said Walter to Ralph.

"Yes and yes to both of your questions," Ralph said, over comms, "but if what I think you're thinking, then it's going to be risky."

"I know, pal," said Walter, and cut off comms.

"Walter, the plan?" asked Toby.

"Okay, we do this the old fashioned way," Walter started explaining, "we build a hook gun and go as near as we can to the border, and fire the hook to a nearby tree, and then kind of zipline above the border."

"That is feasible but there are many risks involved," Nat said, "will you guys be ready?"

"Funny, I was gonna ask you the same question," Walter sarcastically smiled, looking at Nat, "the actual question would be, are you ready?"

"I am ex-RAW, remember?" replied Nat, with a rhetorical question.

"Fair enough," Toby said.

"I'll inform Kush of our plan now, and will give him our coordinates when we are through the border," Nat said, walking off.

"And I better enlighten CIA about this too, and request backup choppers," Cabe said, also walking off.

"Happy, I would need you to build that hook gun," Walter said.

"Sly, take your laptop, 'cause we would need to set up a wireless connection right there, so that we can go online and hack the nukes' mainframe, and diffuse them," said Walter.

Sly nodded and started walking off.

"Wait, Sly," Walter called after him, "can you maybe carry my laptop with you also?"

"On it, boss!" Sly nodded his head, and walked off.

"Okay, just to be safe, I'm printing out pictures of the terrorist groups that are active near this area," Walter said to the remaining people, "so Toby, I would need you to profile the hell out of their leaders. I would give you a video by hacking into their system and switching on their webcam, and making it go invisible."

"Okey-dokey," Toby said, walking off.

"Tim, you have knowledge of these criminals, so please help Toby in his work," Walter said.

"Yeah, so that you can be left alone with Paige?" Tim said, "No way."

"Okay, Tim, I am already dating the woman I love, which is Linda, so please be carefree," Walter replied to Tim, "she is in good hands."

Tim hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and walked off.

"Okay, I'm going to show you a picture," Walter said, in his calm voice, " it would be good if you don't freak out."

"And after the picture I'm going to say something to you, so please listen carefully, and try to not freak out." Walter continued.

He showed her the picture of the sketching he had done on the whiteboard. The AAA.

"What's this, Walter?" Paige asked.

"So, uh, I really liked you at the time I made this," Walter said, "to be blunt with you. So I made a sketch of the garage and memorized your schedule to see how much and when you spend time with Tim and where you meet up with him. For example- you guys daily brew your coffee together, so I marked those spots with a red mark. Now it really used to irk me, seeing you guys together, so I made green marks in the areas where I would be isolated, not getting to see you together. "

"Wow, oh my god! Walter why didn't you tell me?" Paige said, reaching forward and kissing Walter's cheek, "I'm sorry and kind of glad you feel that way!"

"Uhm, 'felt' should be the operative word," Walter said, drawing a frown from Paige.

"What do you mean?" asked Paige.

"I 'felt' that way. I used to like you, but now I love Linda," Walter said, "I just thought that you had a right to know."

"Thank you. That takes a lot of guts and courage. You are a good man, Walter," replied Paige.

Paige had almost been glad that Walter liked her. She was in no control of her emotions. She knew she was dating Tim, but the way that Walter looked at her sparked something in her. Something indistinguishable. Something inextinguishable. She herself didn't know what it was. Moreover, she hated that bitch Linda. Always awing Walter, and Walter too, in a daze, would kiss her, making it so much worse for Paige.

It was like she was being treated like a toy. Her feelings crushed, and her heart doing somersaults when Linda came in front of her. It would get worse when she would grab Walter's face like she was grabbing a candy, and then she would shove her tongue hungrily in his mouth, but it would get horrendous and harder to bear when Walter would return the kiss, with the same intensity. It would make her want to smack that bitch's face.

"Walter," Happy's voice boomed over the intercom. "I'm almost done with the hook guns. Ready to move. Are you and Paige ready?"

Walter looked at Paige and Paige nodded.

"Ya, we are ready!" said Walter, over the intercom.

"Let's move, Paige," said Walter.

At the border

"Sly, can we use the sound waves as an energy source to set up a wireless network?" asked Walter.

"It would be complicated," said Sly, "but I can do it."

"Okay, good. Get to work," Walter said, to Sly.

"Or, I could just use my data roaming to set up a portable wifi hotspot," Nat gave a suggestion, shrugging his shoulders.

"It would have been good under different circumstances, but now we need consistency," Walter said, "and your hotspot can't possibly provide that."

"Good point," Nat replied.

Everyone got to work. Cabe and Tim pulling a few blocks of wood from around the forest surrounding the border, Paige assisting Walter in setting up the code that would be used to detonate the nukes, Nat helping Sly build that wireless network, and Toby and Happy working last minute repairs on the hook gun.

Soon all the work was done. The wireless network was close to perfect, the code was ready, and the hook gun was in perfect shape. Now just the force field remained.

"Sly what are the odds that my code can isolate the frequencies and kill them?" Walter asked Sly.

"Around 0.07% odds of success," Sly replied.

"Well, that's reassuring," groaned Walter.

Walter got to work, his fingers furiously typing, and he had put on a very studious expression. Then he slowly brushed his hand through his hair, and twisting his face into a contorted expression of confusion. Just then, Paige realized how cute he looked while working.

Paige knew she shouldn't be having these thoughts, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Paige smiled, replaying the moment, when Walter brushed his hand through his hair, again and again.

"Why are you smiling at the sky, babe?" Tim suddenly said, disrupting Paige's thought process and taking her mind quickly off Walter.

"The stars look beautiful today," replied Paige, making up a false excuse.

"Yes, you do truly look beautiful today," Tim said.

Paige smiled, but apparently Tim had said that a tiny bit loud enough that Toby turned his head, from where he was working, and frowned at Tim, and then looked at Paige.

Tim always has had that aura around him that acted as a magnet for girls. She was cool enough that he was 'allowed' talking to another women without awkwardness, but possessive enough that she would let no girl get too close to him. Maybe, she felt the same way for Walter deep down….. Just maybe.

She tried to focus on Tim, to take her mind off Walter. _Wow_, she just realized that Tim was looking more toned than usual.

"Started gym today, babe?" Paige asked Tim, holding his loaded biceps, and letting her hand roam to his stomach, feeling the 6 pack-abs she knew so well.

When she was done doing that, she looked up to see that everybody had paused their work and were looking at her.

"Maybe not here, Paige?" Toby said.

"Please get back to your works," said Paige, directing everybody's attention back to what they were doing.

After about twenty minutes, Walter got up and told the team that he wasn't able to disarm the force field.

"Okay, we do this old school now," said Cabe.

"We got a zipline right here," Tim said, taking initiative and stepping forward, "but one small problem."

"We don't know if it would be able to bear a person's weight," Cabe completed Tim.

"What would happen if, while riding the zipline, it breaks and the person on it falls?" Paige asked the team.

"They would, first of all, fall down onto the border, where their body would be exposed to a 400,000 Watt current, that would cause instant death. But even if it does not, the person would be blown away, like literally, by the force field, which does guarantee death," Walter explained.

"Great!" Toby said, "any human guinea pigs here?"

With a loud cry, a man ran forward from behind the members of the team and swiftly pulled the zipline, and threw himself to the other side of the border.

"Guess it can hold a person's weight," said Nat, who had just pulled off a very dangerous stunt.

Once everyone was on the other side of the border, Walter pulled Nat aside, "you didn't need to do what you just did."

"I had a rush of adrenalin and decided to do it for the greater good. And for you guys," Nat replied, shrugging his shoulders, "besides, I would take a bullet for my team."

"This doesn't make you a part of the team," Walter said, a frown on his face.

Nat raised his hand in surrender and walked away.

The team quickly retrieved the hook from the hook gun and hid the whole set up in their bags. Sly and Walter got to work on setting up the structure of the wireless system they had built, so that Walter's code could disarm the nukes.

About after ten minutes of working peacefully, a leave rustled very loudly on the other side of the border, and a car full of what looked like terrorists headed towards the border, disarming the force field,as they came dangerously close to the border, but didn't open up the lock, so as to not get electrocuted.

It didn't take long for shooting to break out, everyone finding a cover.

"Why the hell are they shooting at us?" Cabe asked to no one in particular.

"Guess they are after the nukes," replied Nat.

"Walter, you gotta code and disarm the nukes 'cause it's almost dawn." Happy warned Walter.

Walter picked up his tablet, and ran at the centre of the wireless setup.

"Cabe, cover me while I code," Walter said, already starting to code, "it wouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"I'm out of round son," Cabe replied, shouting over the noise from the shootout.

Walter kept on running and didn't hear Cabe, all while assuming Cabe was covering him.

As soon as he reached the middle of the distance he was supposed to cover, a goon aimed his pistol at Walter.

Nat saw this and ran between Walter and the goon, and into the goon's line of fire.

The goon shot, and the bullet caught Nat square in his chest.

Nat had just taken a bullet for Walter….

As soon as Walter realized that, he secured an immobile Nat and finished coding. The nukes were disarmed.

A blast eliminated all the goons and the team looked behind to see where it came from. They saw Kush in a military tank, waving his hand.

"I like this guy already," said Toby, frantically waving back to Kush.

"Guys," Walter shouted. "Guys!"

When they all approached him, they saw Nat's immobile form.

"Kush, bring us jets to go home," Cabe said, and Kush nodded.

"Stay with me Nat," Toby said, "Stay with me."

"Walter," Nat called weakly. Walter came close to him.

"Guess I wasn't lying when I said I would take a bullet for my team. Thank you for making me realize my dream, and I regret not being able to work with you guys in the future," said Nat, conveying his gratitude.

Paige grabbed Nat's hand and said to him, "No don't say that."

"Honey, maybe don't clutch his hand that tight?" Tim said, receiving a death stare from Paige.

"Just a suggestion, Hon," Tim replied, backing down.

"Concentrate on my face, Nat," Paige said, in an attempt to calm Nat down.

"You look beautiful, Paige." Nat said weakly and smiled….. And then shut his eyes.

"No no no, he has lost consciousness but is barely breathing," Toby said, "I can treat him by I need that plane here ASAP,"

Just when he said it, the plane came rushing to them, and they got inside, strapping Nat first and then everybody took a seat, while Toby was checking out Nat in the emergency cabin.

It had been almost 2 hours now, and no word from Toby. Everybody was super anxious about Nat's condition.

Finally Toby came out and everybody held their breath.

"He will make a full recovery!" Toby said, "thanks to the smartest Doctor in the world."

Everyone drew in a fresh and a relieved gasp of air, as they hugged each other, and planned to go back to the garage.

"Uh, guys," Walter said, interrupting the celebrations, "I would like to talk to Nat for a minute. Can I , doc?"

Toby nodded and directed Walter to Nat's cabin, and shut the door when Walter was inside, giving the two some time alone.

Walter got inside, and set on the edge of Nat's hospital bed.

"You didn't have to do that," Walter said.

"Yes, true. I did it for friends," Nat said, smiling and shrugging his shoulders.

"But you've just been with us for one case, and for only a few hours," Walter said, "how are you willing to risk your life for a person, or rather a jerk, that you have been working with for the past few hours….."

"That's my nature, genius boy," Nat said.

"Don't call me that," replied Walter, not particularly annoyed.

"Okay fine, 197," said Nat, with a constant smile on his features.

"That too," said Walter.

Nat kept smiling.

"And yes, about before," Walter began, "I think that you are more than ready to handle death."

"So….. does that mean…?" Nat asked Walter, with a cheeky smirk on his face.

"Welcome to Scorpion, Nat." Walter said, starting to walk out of Nat's room.

"Will probably let you rest, give you some space," said Walter, as he closed the door behind him.

At the Garage

"So Nat's on the team now, huh?" Happy said, approaching Walter.

"Yes," replied Walter.

"That's a good decision, boss," said Happy, "after what he did today, he proved himself."

Walter nodded, and Happy walked back to her desk, and continued working on the next gen motor she was building.

"OHHHH, finally," the garage door opened, and Linda came rushing in and hugged Walter.

_Oh here we go_, Paige said to herself in her head.

"I thought I lost you on that mission," Linda said, coming dangerously close to Walter, "it was all over the television last night."

A slight 'oh' escaped Walter's mouth, before Linda came close to him and hungrily kissed him, shoving her tongue into his mouth.

Paige was horrified and averted her head.

She took a peak and saw something more disappointing than what she had just witnessed. Walter was kissing Linda back, and that too with the same intensity.

Hastily, Walter directed his hands towards her rear.

Out of nowhere, Toby said, "Eww, get a room guys."

"Oh we will, Toby!" Walter said to Toby, breaking a 30 second kiss that ended up in making Linda gasp for air.

"Oh my god," Paige said, with a mixture of hurt and disappointment in her expression, storming out of the garage.

"Okay, Walter, enjoy your night while Tim and Paige enjoy some coffee together at the best coffee place in town," Toby said, shrugging his shoulders.

Toby was trying to knock some sense into Walter, but Walter's brain was the only one that he could not read.

Toby's statement made Walter hesitate for a second, but he went back to kissing Linda.

"Oh we will have a very good night, Toby!" Walter said, almost too cheerily, while faking a large grin.

Walter picked up Linda, while still kissing her and exited the garage, not even managing to close the garage door on his way out.

When they reached outside, Walter saw Paige, through the corner of his eye, leaning against a large canister, staring at them with a frown on her face, furiously shaking her head.

When they reached Walter's car, he realized that his hands were not free to open the door, and his body would not be useful also, as he was carrying Linda's full weight in his arms. This all meant that he would have to ask someone to open the car door for them.

The only person near enough was Paige, so he thought that it would be quite a logical choice to ask her to open the door for them.

"Uh, Paige?" Walter called out to her.

Linda groaned at the sudden disruption between their love-making, but Paige's face lit up.

"Yeah, Walter?" Paige replied with a question, coming forward, hands on her waist, and her body slightly tilted towards her right, in a model fashion.

"Can you open the door for us please?" Walter asked with a big smile on his face already.

The words hadn't left his mouth when Paige groaned and frowned again, but regained her composure just in time for Walter to miss it.

"Of course, why not?" Paige said, her voice cracking, her face a flurry of emotion, but at last, she managed a smile and went on to open the door.

She fumbled the door for almost two minutes, when Linda cried, "do it already. Jesus!"

She finally did open the door and both Walter and Linda felt backward on the rear seats.

"What next, Walter?" asked Paige, sarcastically, "want me to drive you home?"

Walter didn't even stop their kissing to pay attention to her.

Paige just slammed the door, missing Linda's heels by an inch.

Linda broke the kiss and said, "Man, she got some issues."

Walter just looked at the retreating form of Paige, and resumed kissing Linda.

Paige stormed away from Walter and Linda, all while muttering "Bitch" under her breath. She entered the garage and slammed the garage with extraordinary strength, making Toby squeak out in fear.

* * *

**Please review and tell me how it is and also comment about some things that you liked and didn't particularly enjoy in this chapter. Thanks for reading, and all reviews and suggestions and thoughts are appreciated! **


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